NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women may not always tell the
truth about their drinking habits during pregnancy, the
findings of a new study hint.

When Swedish researchers surveyed 103 pregnant women about
their alcohol use and also tested their urine and hair to check
for alcohol byproducts, they found that seven had levels
"highly suspicious of heavy drinking," but just one admitted to
drinking at all.

"You cannot solely rely on the self-reports given by the
women; you have to add some other measure of (alcohol)
consumption to get a better test of how many women consume
(alcohol) during pregnancy," Dr. Inger Sundstrom Poromaa of
Uppsala University, who led the study, told Reuters Health.

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She and her colleagues had the 103 women in the study
complete the AUDIT test -- which stands for Alcohol Use
Disorders Identification Test. They also tested their hair and
urine for biomarkers of alcohol use. Markers of alcohol use can
remain in the hair for months and "have the potential to
distinguish between social drinking and heavy repeated
drinking," they explain in the American Journal of Obstetrics
and Gynecology.

Ninety-four of the women studied, or 91 percent, said they
hadn't consumed alcohol at all during their pregnancy. Of the
nine who admitted to drinking while pregnant, six said they
drank once a month or less often, while three said they drank
two to four times a month. Seven said they had one to two
glasses of wine each time that they drank, one said she had
three to four glasses, and another did not report how much
alcohol she consumed.

However, hair tests detected alcohol use in 19 of the
women, with levels in seven suggestive of heavy drinking. Based
on the results, 25 percent of the women did in fact drink
alcohol during pregnancy, but just 8.7 percent admitted to
doing so on the AUDIT questionnaire.

The findings are "discouraging," the researchers say, given
that abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy is recommended.